U.S. Pat. No. 2,483,138 discloses providing a cutter in the form of a stationary and cooperating movable sheer blade situated immediately behind the position of a needle bar of a sewing machine or its presser foot and providing a manual or pedal actuator by means of which the operator can sever the continuous chain of sewn goods.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,570,434 discloses a method and apparatus for simultaneously sewing two halves of a sliding clasp fastener forming part of a continuous fastener tape, with the fastener-coupling members on each half in engagement with each other, to a support such as the top material of a garment. The fastener tape with the desired length of both halves sewn onto the support is severed in a part that is provisionally left disconnected from the support, and the tape is provided simultaneously with a connection to join together the interengaging coupling members on the two halves in the region of the severing.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,938,454 discloses a combination of a sewing machine and a cutting device consisting of a reciprocating blade located in a safe position below the machine work surface, and a descending operative member which urges the material to be cut into cutting relation with said blade. Cutting action is thus achieved without impact (as occurs with a guillotine cutter) and, most important, in a selected width that corresponds to the width of said descending operative member.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,169,421 discloses an attachment for a sewing machine driven by a needle bar and includes a knife which engages and feeds in step-by-step fashion the fastener ladder through the machine as the machine stitches it to the fabric. Means on the attachment are provided to selectively drive the knife into deeper engagement with the ladder to sever the ladder at the end of slide fastener.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,674,422 discloses a method of sewing and an automatic sewing apparatus for accurately aligning fabric pieces and continuously fed zipper chain at a sewing station and sequentially thereafter sewing the chain into the fabric in zipper-closed condition, cutting the chain to a length determined by the length of the fabric, cutting the sewing thread upon completion of the sewing operation and stacking the assembled fabric and zipper combination for subsequent removal.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,704,781 discloses a process and apparatus for mounting a slide fastener segment near the opposing edges of two pieces of material, particularly on a slit in a piece of clothing, a slide fastener strip, the slide fastener segment or the slide fastener and the pieces of material are fed to the sewing stations of a two needle sewing machine. The pieces of material in the region between the sewing stations are positioned to form a gap and are curved so that a portion of each hangs substantially vertically from two fold edges or creases in an intervening space between both of the sewing stations. Both slide fastener halves of the open slide fastener segment or the open slide fastener are sewn on from above on the horizontal portion of the pieces of the material along the fold edges.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,714,038 discloses a method of sewing and an automatic sewing apparatus for accurately aligning fabric pieces and continuously fed zipper chain at a sewing station and sequentially thereafter sewing the chain into the fabric in zipper-closed condition, cutting the chain to a length determined by the length of the fabric, cutting the sewing thread upon completion of the sewing operation and stacking the assembled fabric and zipper combination for subsequent removal.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,813,361 discloses a method and apparatus for applying a protective strip by sewing to an end of a slide fastener, a continuous protective strip which is fed downwardly toward a tape supply position on the base of a sewing machine with its one surface facing opposite to a direction of feed of a slide fastener until a leading end portion of the protective tape overlays the base by a predetermined length. Then the leading end portion of the tape is bent in a direction opposite to the fastener feed direction by a stream of pressurized air issuing from an air nozzle. Thereafter, a slide fastener is advanced along the base until its leading end reaches to a sewing position located downstream of the tape supply position, thereby causing the leading end portion of the protective tape to bend into a U-shape extending from the back to the face of the slide fastener around the leading end thereof. Then the U-shaped leading end portion is cut from the continuous protective tape, thereby forming a U-shaped protective strip which in turn is sewn to the leading end of the slide fastener.